invisiblecircus

It has since been reported that Michaela's mother, Elaine DePrince, passed away 2 days after her daughter's death while in preparation for a routine medical procedure. She died without knowing of Michaela's passing and Michaela was not aware of her mother's sudden health decline at the time of her death on 10th September (not 13th as previously reported.)

It is difficult but not impossible to become a professional dancer when you start at a later age. I started at 14 and went on to study at a top ballet school. It is essential that you get the right training though. Is your current ballet teacher aware of your ambitions? You need to get in as many hours of quality training as you can and work at home as well. You say you have an almost good physique for ballet but you're too fat. What do you mean by that? Has someone commented on your weight or is it just what you think? We don't know your level or your potential from your post, but on age alone, I don't think it's impossible for you to get an upper school place at 16 or 18. Very few get contracts in classical companies upon graduation, but there are very many other careers open to you in the field of dance and it is entirely realistic to think you can work in the field, be that as a dancer in a contemporary company, in musicals, on cruise ships, a choreographer, teacher, or behind the scenes as a theatre technician, costume maker, pointe shoe fitter and many other possibilities!

It depends on the school. RBS for example I think takes students at year 7 for three years then some (many?) get assessed out at year 9, so that does potentially leave more places available than in years 8 and 9 when you'd be relying on people deciding to leave for a place to become available. The situation is probably different in other schools but there is always some movement. It is more common to try for sixth form entry than for lower school if not going for year 7, but it's worth a try if you want to apply sooner.

I'm not sure what age you'd be applying for but the course is for 8 years starting from 10/11 years, so those entering the first year in September 2024 would be born between 01/01/2013 and 30/04/2014, for the second year, 2012 births and so on. Admission is always for one year only with all students having to pass an exam in order to be admitted to the next year. (By the way, this is also the case in all academic schools in the Italian system.) You can apply for admission to years 1 - 7 of the course. The course has a definite classical focus but at the end of the final year the students will get a diploma in both classical and contemporary dance. The school does not have accommodation. The courses are taught only in Italian. Academics are also not taught at the school but students are enrolled in a local school for academics. For the first three years, dance classes are held in the afternoons, from the fourth year onwards from 9:00-15:30. Difficult to compare how easy it is to be accepted in comparison to other schools. I have very little knowledge of John Cranko School so don't know how difficult it is to get a place there. Princess Grace is extremely competitive but is really a very different kind of school, offering a 4 year course and very much geared towards international students whereas Accademia alla Scala attracts mainly Italian students.

I'm also interested in hearing from people who did the summer course. Maybe my DD will do it next year. We looked into the full time training option for the current academic year but decided against it,(not because there is anything wrong with the course.) Happy to answer any specific questions about that if you have any.

I attended PGA towards the end of Besobrasova's directorship (so not in the last few years 😉) and although it's much more accessible to English speakers these days I think there is still a certain reluctance for British students to study abroad, which may be partly because there are so many dance schools and training opportunites in the UK in comparison to other countries.

No school is for everyone, maybe they received other offers that they preferred. I personally have not heard of lots of people turning down places but I don't know anyone who has applied for this year (not sure if you were referring only to applications for this year.)

It only shows name, nationality, school and country of those selected to participate in the live rounds in Lausanne, it does not give those details for all those who applied. The document showing the total number of applicants only gives their nationalities and not where they trained. Number of applicants: nombre-de-candidats-pdl-2024-1.pdf (prixdelausanne.org) Selected to the live rounds: selected-candidates-2024-1.pdf (prixdelausanne.org)

1) 201 – João Pedro DOS SANTOS SILVA – Brazil 2) 415 – Martinho LIMA SANTOS – Portugal 3) 317 – Paloma LIVELLARA VIDART – Argentina 4) 106 – Crystal HUANG – United States 5) 315 – Airi KOBAYASHI – Japan 6) 411 – Jenson BLIGHT – Australia 7) 417 – Juliann FEDELE-MALARD – France 8] 302 – Natalie STEELE – United States 9) 207 – Taichi TOSHIDA – Japan

No, I don't think the male dancers have an advantage. Not at this level of competition. I watched the final and the results but didn't note the winners because I thought it would have been published immediately but it doesn't seem to have been. Great to see 9 prizes being awarded, I think that's more than previous years. 15 year old Joao Pedro Dos Santos Silva won the first prize. I loved his fun performance of the variation from Harlequinade and he consistently had incredible control on his pirouettes. It'll be interesting to see which school he chooses. There seemed to be a bit of confusion at the end. Someone was heard saying something about two prizes and Deborah Bull's mic was still on when she was asking if she should announce it. I wonder what was going on!

There are a number of schools and companies who have chosen to be partners to the Prix de Lausanne. This is by mutual agreement of the school and competition, but it's the school/ company's decision to be a partner or not. Each prize winner gets to spend a year at the school (for the younger candidates) or company (for the older ones) of their choice from the list of partner schools/ companies. In the even that 2 prize winners choose the same school, the higher placed gets priority, but the school can decide to take both if they like (but are not obligated to.) Whether or not the school has students participating is not connected to this.

The Royal Ballet is a partner company and the RBS is a partner school of the Prix de Lausanne and as such, they must offer places to one student at the school and one dancer in the company for a year if any of the winners choose them as options. While they are bound by the rules of the partnership to offer only these places, they sometimes take an additional prize winner into the school if more than one has chosen the RBS and they like that candidate. Furthermore, they sometimes spot other dancers that they like and take them as well.

Here is the list of finalists: 106 - HUANG Crystal, United States, 15.3 yo 111 - DOBRIN Nali, Romania, 15.5 yo 122 - LEE Wongyeon, South Korea, 16.6 yo 123 - PARK E-Eun, South Korea, 16.6 yo 201 - DOS SANTOS SILVA João Pedro, Brazil, 15.2 yo 207 - TOSHIDA Taichi, Japan, 15.8 yo 211 - WEBER Léo, France, 16.10 yo 212 - ZHANG Desihan, P.R. China, 16.10 yo 302 - STEELE Natalie, United States, 17.2 yo 307 - KIM Jioh, South Korea, 17.7 yo 313 - DAY Ruby, Australia, 17.10 yo 315 - KOBAYASHI Airi, Japan, 18.4 yo 317 - LIVELLARA VIDART Paloma, Argentina, 18.5 yo 318 - KANG Yujeong, South Korea, 18.7 yo 407 - SCHILLACI Giuseppe, Italy, 17.6 yo 408 - WILLEY Carson, United States, 17.6 yo 411 - BLIGHT Jenson, Australia, 17.7 yo 415 - LIMA SANTONS Martinho, Portugal, 17.11 yo 417 - FEDELE-MALARD Juliann, France, 18.1 yo 431 - HORI Takafumi, Japan, 18.11 yo

This year, 4 girls and 1 boy entered from the UK but were not selected to compete in the live rounds in Lausanne. I don't know anything about who these candidates are, whether they're studying at UK schools or abroad, or are private candidates. The RBS have previously stated that they don't enter their students for competitions because of timetabling constraints. I don't think schools are shying away from competing, but the structure of the British education system and the pacing of training at dance schools in the UK make it difficult to participate in competitions such as this one. To enter in the younger category, students must be 15 or 16 years old, so year 10 or 11 at school. Most would not want to enter in year 10 and leave school without doing GCSEs, and year 11 students are auditioning for upper schools as well as juggling GCSE's, so difficult for vocational schools to prepare for this as well. Furthermore, I imagine that vocational schools would want to "showcase" their most talented students at a competition like this if they did enter, and might not be keen to prepare them, only for them to then go off to another school! Upper school courses in the UK are generally 3 years long starting at age 16 with the aim of having the student ready for employment at 19/ 20. In the older age category, students must be 17 or 18 to compete, meaning that they would be in their first or second years of upper school (and at the time of application would have only just started their first or second year) so may not be ready for a professional contract (which is what they're competing for) at that time. In many other countries, students complete their training at an earlier age.

Alumnae is correct for an all female group, but in the context of your post alumni is correct since DB is one of a mixed group of graduates and we assume that both male and female candidates will be considered for the role. While I'm fond of Darcey Bussell, I don't think she'd be the best candidate for this role. Unrelated to the above comment, I would like to see more of a link between the upper and lower schools. This is something that has been spoken about often in the past and I believe was one of the goals of the outgoing director, but I'd like to a big change towards training the students at WL to be the kind of dancers the upper school wants.

I always wore Capezio tights and loved them, they lasted years! My girls are currently using tights from Decathlon and haven't had any problems with them, they're lasting really well. I'm only replacing them once they're outgrown.

The list of selected candidates has been announced: selected-candidates-2024.pdf (prixdelausanne.org) None of the 5 British entries were selected but there is a Portuguese boy who trains at English National Ballet School. Info on the number of candidates can be found here: nombre-de-candidats-pdl-2024.pdf (prixdelausanne.org)

For these brands do you usually need a size up from normal street shoe size or are they true to size?

It's worth noting that some schools will take a 17 year old into the first year of their course while others will only consider them for second year or whichever year corresponds to their age. In the latter scenario it is much more difficult to gain a place due to the much smaller number of places available and the fact that the candidate would have to have somehow attained the standard of others from that school who had already received a full year of training.

Yes, please message me! Attending a short course is definitely the best option to start with. I think they're only for a week now (although you can attend more than one week) and while it is also possible to arrange a private audition, the short courses give you a taste of what it is like to live there. Some people find the environment very difficult because it is so intense, others love it. At my time, we had to attend for a whole month to be considered for entry which not only gave the school the possibility to observe candidates over a longer period in class but also for them and us to see how we adapted to the environment. Consider also how you will handle academic work.

I went to this school, what would you like to know? Has your son/ daughter already been offered a place?

I assume you are talking about a local, private dance studio. It really depends what your agreement is with them and how often you usually pay. Some schools require a notice period, others don't. Here it is standard to sign up for and pay for either a whole year in advance or a half year. One year, we paid for the whole year up front because it cost less than two half years and after three classes our DD got sick with pneumonia for which she was off for 4 weeks, then she had some complications which caused pain in her legs so she went back for one more lesson then couldn't continue, so we basically paid a years worth of fees for 4 lessons. I hope your school would be supportive in your case and carry the fees over. I understand the perspective of their costs being the same but in many cases, classes are not full to capacity so one student less would not usually make the class financially unviable to run.

The full time programme is certainly in Italian and does not include a boarding option.

I've also got no personal experience of the school but I'd advise you to think about what other options you have before deciding what's best for your child. Would you aim to continue classes after school if you don't take up the WL place? Quite a few posters have written about their experiences at WL on other threads if you do a search, but remember that two children/ families can have completely different experiences of a school, even if they were there at the same time, so you can't always go by what you read. I went to a different vocational school and had an incredible experience, but others who were there at the same time as me, even in the same class and dorm are still traumatised! I think much depends on the personality of the child as well. I have to say that in everything I've heard about WL or read about on here, I've never heard complaints about cleanliness, but if that is a concern (and it sounds as if it was on the day you went) you can ask specifically about it. It could just have been an unlucky moment. The boarding houses are what they are and you and your child have to decide whether they'd be happy living there.

What is your ambition in dance and where are you at the moment? Do you want to be a ballet dancer or would you prefer contemporary or commercial dance? How old are you and how long have you been training? How many hours per week do you train? What does "good enough in one and a half years" mean? Is that when you'd like to enter the profession or when you would hope to enter a full time training course? None of us know what G-d wants, all we can do is put ourselves in the best situation we can to achieve our goals and work hard.